Introduction to better together
Whether students are in-person, online, or hybrid, educators need ways to organize instructional materials and provide learning opportunities. They also need methods to communicate with students, parents, and families. On its own, Microsoft Teams is a powerful digital hub that connects school leaders, educators, and students with conversations, content, and apps. The Schoology Learning Management System (LMS) provides a place to organize instructional content, personalize learning for students, and assess student learning. Using these platforms together, educators and school systems can streamline communication and progress visibility to students, parents, and guardians. The combined platforms connect the larger community of school leaders, educators, students, their families, and caregivers.
A few examples of how educators and students can work better together using Microsoft Teams and Schoology are:
- Educators and students in a class team and a Schoology course.
- Grade level educators or department colleagues in a PLC team and a Schoology group.
- School leaders with faculty in a staff team and Schoology course or group.
- Student club with faculty advisors in a team (other type) and a Schoology group.
Connect Schoology to Microsoft Teams
With the myriad of available technology tools and apps, it can be challenging to efficiently move between all the programs. Using a landing page in Schoology is one way to assist students with navigating between the platforms of Schoology and Microsoft Teams. For example, an educator can create a page in Schoology and include an image with a link to the class team - or even to a specific channel where scheduled class meetings take place in Microsoft Teams. The educator can also include links to other items such as the OneNote Class Notebook to help students quickly navigate to their work. Providing the structure and links on a landing page in Schoology helps students quickly access tools for learning in Microsoft Teams.
Access Schoology with a tab in Teams
Microsoft Teams offers more than just live, synchronous meetings. Video conferencing with Teams offers a place where engagement strategies connect students with their learning and each other. Video conferencing supports social and emotional learning while building class community. Educators and students share files, common resources, channel discussions, a digital Class Notebook, and more. In a Class Team, educators connect to Microsoft 365 tools and add links to other platforms such as Schoology. For example, an educator adds a tab to a Class Team channel that directly links students to the associated course in Schoology. Students easily gain access to the Schoology instructional content and assignments from the Teams window. Students can open the Schoology tab from Teams in a browser window to access all the features of the full Schoology environment.